something worth hurting for
by finaljoy
Summary: When Winry pulls the gun on Scar, Ed helps her calm down. Along they way, they realize just what's worth hurting for.


_**AN I was watching FMA: Brotherhood, and saw the episode where Winry finds out that Scar was the one who killed her parents, and just watching her pull the gun on him, and then Ed soothe her, it was something that I felt I should write about. This oneshot is broken into Ed's and Winry's POV, but you should know that the italicized parts in Winry's sections are her thinking. I wanted to convey her not being able to think clearly, so her thoughts are kind of broken and incoherent.**_

He flung himself in front of her. A flash of gold and red, and then...there he was, arms stretched out to protect Winry from Scar. She gasped _or is it just me breathing? everything seems so rocky and spasmy_, the gun shaking in her hands. Her brain stuttered, and slowly she saw in her head how Edward had flipped over Scar, just so he could come between him and her.

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><p>Edward glared at Scar, just <em>daring<em> him to do it, to kill him and then Winry. If there was a Hell, Ed was sure to grab Scar and hold him tight, take the both of them down.

All of his senses were going too fast, the adrenaline in his system not liking that he was just sitting down instead of even being in a battle stance. He could hear the yowling of a cat in the next alley over, feel his and Winry's heart beats, going so fast that they'd surely break, see Scar's eyes widen ever so slightly as he realized what Ed had done. Ed grit his teeth, ignoring the hand just inches from his face, and also trying to ignore the gun, shaking in Winry's hand, thumping against his back. The cold from the metal seemed to seep through the fabric of both his jacket and shirt, freezing his skin.

Slowly, so as not to make either Winry or Scar start (which would result in his death either way, whether Scar destroyed his head or Winry jerking and shooting him in the spine), he reached back, taking hold of the gun barrel and pulling it off to the side.

The moment seemed to stretch on, and fear coiled tight in his stomach as Winry sobbed into his hair and Scar stared off beyond the two children he'd been about to murder, watching something dark and ugly that only he could see.

Then Al leaped at him, giving him a kick that broke the reverie. Edward stayed frozen, not daring to move anything but his eyes as Scar jumped back out of his line of sight. He shifted when he heard Scar break a hole in a wall and escape, then jumped when Al yelled at him, telling him to get Winry to a safer place. Al chased after Scar, leaving him and Winry alone and he relaxed, just a little.

But he was still scared, which was fine, only fools weren't scared in battle. He just wanted to know if it was because he'd just thrown himself on the honor of a thoughtless, vengeful murderer, or that he had just protected a girl he wasn't sure he knew anymore.

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><p>Winry shook as he turned around, looking at her with soft eyes. No, not soft, worried. They were kind, they were sympathetic, they were scared. Hero's eyes. Eyes that said they were sorry, and that were hurt because he'd been unable to protect someone.<p>

_why's he hurt? he just saved me._

She looked down, not wanting to see those eyes of a hero.

Her hands shook, one from fear and the other from holding the gun so tight.

"Winry...let go of the gun." His voice was gentle as he knelt beside her, taking hold of her shaking arms.

"I...I couldn't shoot."

"I know you couldn't. But that's okay." Ed's voice was comforting, like a parent's when soothing a child. She could have listened to that wonderful voice for forever.

"That man, he said_...he was the one who killed my mom and dad!_" she said, clapping a hand to her eye _i don't want to see him looking so kind at me_, but somehow, tears still managed to slip out. "And he tried to kill you and Al too, Ed! But I couldn't. Why not?"

"Remember in Rush Valley," he started, taking hold of the gun so that he was mirroring her, down to the way he bent his head _only he's not crying_, talking to her like it was just them. Winry liked that thought, it just being them in that broken alleyway, just her and him and her pain and his soothing words and the gun. "When you helped deliver that baby? You saved two lives then," he told her, pulling back one of her fingers from the handle_ so gentle, so nice, so warm,_ so that she opened her eyes and looked and their hands.

"And then you gave me an arm-" another finger pulled away "-and a leg-" one more "-to replace the ones I've lost," he said, pulling back the last finger, acting like she'd just plucked his automail out of her pocket, with no complaining or fussing or reprimanding _but that makes me feel so much better._

The gun clatter to the ground between them, a weight she no longer had to carry. A weight that he'd taken for her, unasked _but that's so wrong, because I wanted to share some of the burden with them._

Maybe...there were types of burdens certain people just couldn't carry. Maybe, if it meant helping people, taking the load that others couldn't carry and in turn handing off your own...maybe that was worth hurting for._  
><em>

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><p>"It's you hands," he told her<em>, <em>picking up her hand and holding it in both of his._ "_They're meant to give _life._ That's why."

He looked at her, watched the tears continue to drop like lead from her cheeks, wishing that she'd never had reason to be facing this, to have picked up a gun and wanted to shoot a man for killing her parents. He was hurting for her, because he hadn't been able to save her.

But worse than that, was the _relief_ he'd felt. When Ed had thrown himself in front of her, he'd seen something in her that could have turned into an ugly monster, like the Ishvalan in front of him, consumed with a hate that'd never be satisfied. He'd been so worried that Winry would change, right there, before his eyes, and he'd have been unable to stop it.

Winry started shaking harder, and she fell forward, grabbing the front of his shirt and sobbing into his chest. He held her shoulder, thinking that this...this was worth it. To see someone remained unchanged by the wars and the rage and the death people caused all over, to see Winry, his_ Winry,_ stay so...pure, it was something that he'd fight and die for.

_She_ was someone worth hurting for.

**_AN I just really love Edward and Winry's relationship. One second they're yelling and tossing things at each other, and then next they have sweet scenes like this. It's so great. But, please review and tell me what you think! I haven't quite written anything like this, plus it's my first time writing for FMA on top of that! Tell me if you think I did an okay job or not :)_**


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